On Sunday, the Washington Post reported on Karl Rove’s politicization of the federal government. The article highlighted that Rove had organized “asset deployment teams” that allowed the White House “to coordinate the travel of Cabinet secretaries and senior agency officials” to secure GOP victories:

In practical terms, that meant Cabinet officials concentrated their official government travel on the media markets Rove’s team chose, rolling out grant decisions made by agencies with red-carpet fanfare in GOP congressional districts, and carefully crafted announcements highlighting the release of federal money in battleground states.

This morning, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote to the heads of 18 federal agencies who attended the briefings, confirming the existence of the teams:

As part of our investigation, the Committee has received documents that confirm the existence of this “asset deployment team.” According to the documents, the White House invited 18 federal agencies, including yours, to asset deployment meetings in 2003. Read more...

I am also extremely revolted by Americans who, because they are rich Americans, believe they can do anything with impunity anywhere in the world. We aren't talking a teenagers with a joint; although they need to have someone give them a talking to before they travel, we are talking about idiots who are paying a lot of money to go to a country to do something they know is questionable, but they don't care because they figure it's a "banana republic" or whatever!

Maybe America will be a little less hated if they stop allowing douchy citizens travel to other countries, act like shit, and feel protected by their citizenship!